Raspberry and Red Currant Crumble Tart

I think I visited the farmer's market at least three times wandering past the stands with the pints of beautiful shiny red currants. I would ponder different uses of them, come home and research some recipes and I just didn't want to settle on using them to make jam. I decided that I had to bake with them. I didn't want to make a boring pie with such an exciting fruit and I had just made a cherry pie. So, after a few suggestions to mix them with raspberries, I settled on making a raspberry and red currant tart. I didn't want to just make one big impersonal tart, but instead I made tartlets with their own little collection of red currants and raspberries meant for individual enjoyment. Plus, this isn't just any tart, it's a crumble tart with a custard filling.

I had the fruit in my kitchen for a few days before I made these and was just taken aback by its beauty and vibrant color.

And, when baked inside these amazing oatmeal and almond tart shells that I made, I knew this dessert would be one to remember. This tart shell will probably be one that I make again for other fruit tarts. It's a combination of ground almonds, oats, brown sugar, flour and butter. After I ground the almonds, it was very easy to make and even easier to work with. I spooned it into the tart shells and used the same spoon to flatten it up against the sides and bottom. These were baked first and then I flattened them back down after baking make sure they filled the shell and made room for the filling.

After I washed and prepared the fruit, I put several red currants and raspberries in each shell, covered it with a custard batter to finish off the filling and it was topped with a crumble topping of almonds, flour and sugar.

While they baked the kitchen smelled of warm sugar, cooked berries and custard. Yum....I'm glad I had an extra one for us to sample! I thought the heavy use of ground almonds and sugar with the custard filling would be too rich, but it ended up being the perfect sweet compliment to the tart tastes of the red currants and raspberries. This was perfect warm out of the oven on its own or would be fantastic with fresh warm custard or vanilla ice cream.

Oatmeal Cookies

I meant to make this cookie in May and time got the best of me with the other projects I decided to take on. I love this oatmeal cookie recipe and got hungry for them after I lit an oatmeal cookie candle I have. I lit it when I had company coming over as it makes the house smell like you've been baking. I felt like I was cheating with the candle, so I wanted to make a batch of these cookies and recreate the real smell! It's simple in that it is purely just oatmeal, but sometimes simple is just better. I grew up with oatmeal cookies loaded with coconut, chocolate chips, raisins and sometimes nuts and while I love those, this is definitely my go-to oatmeal cookie recipe now. They are perfectly crispy on the edges with a soft center. And, since they are dredged in powdered sugar before baking, they come out of the oven with a warm sugary coating and they just melt in your mouth.

The batter is very easy to make and I always use my mini cookie scoop to keep the size of the cookies consistent.

I rolled each cookie scoop into a ball and gave them a nice thick coating of powdered sugar.

They went on Silpat lined baking sheets and I flattened each of them slightly with the back of a spoon.

Here they are fresh out of the oven. Beautiful cracks in the powdered sugar coating as they spread out when they baked and a slightly gooey warm sugar coating.

I made a lot of them so I had plenty to send some home with family that visited and a nice big container for my husband to take to the office.

I think these cookies would be great with maybe a homemade caramel or cinnamon homemade ice cream sandwiched between them. I have some other ideas for fun ice cream sandwiches and plan to make some in the warm summer months to enjoy with the kids.

Banana Oatmeal Muffins

I've been making banana oatmeal muffins for about a decade now and it's a great way to use ripe bananas. Many people make banana bread, but these are hearty muffins that are a welcome departure from the traditional banana bread. I'll often freeze my ripe bananas in the peel and then thaw them to use in this recipe.

It's a very simple recipe and I don't even break out the kitchenaid to mix up the batter. You mix together your dry ingredients, including flour, sugar and oats. This time I used 1/2 regular flour and 1/2 whole wheat flour. You mix in the wet ingredients, including the mashed banana, milk and a little vegetable. oil.

I've noticed many bakeries using just the plain parchment squares for muffin papers. I used my roll of parchment paper and cut it into 5 inch squares to use. A good tip I read was to use a cup to mold them into the muffin tin.

I filled them with the batter about 2/3 full using my small ice cream/cookie scoop and tried not to get any batter on the edges of the parchment. They baked very nicely and the parchment made them look more rustic and homemade.

Chocolate No-bake Cookies

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I grew up with cookies we commonly called "no-bakes" that are fudgy chocolate cookies with oats. Some people made them with just cocoa and some would also include peanut butter for a richer flavor. You don't bake them in the oven, but simply melt all the ingredients together in a stove top pot and drop them on parchment to dry and solidify. However, the appropriate moistness and texture of the cookies requires the right temperature and timing when you're making them. I've found a recipe that I love and they turn out great each time. It uses chunky peanut butter so they also have a little crunch to them. It's a simple cookie, but has such a great texture and flavor. I thought everybody knew about these, but have come across a few people that were unfamiliar. Did you grow up with your mom making "no-bakes"?